Leading Off September 24th, 2025 (Ep. 1137)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's going on? Everybody. Welcome into Fantasy pros. This is
leading off live the Fantasy Baseball Podcast. I'm your host,
Joe Rico, joined again today by Casey Bubba, and yes,
it is our final time together for the twenty twenty
five Fantasy Baseball season. Bubba, it's been great getting to
talk with you here a couple times a weekend to
talk some baseball and just catch up. It's been really

(00:25):
good man. Thank you so much for joining me again today.
How you doing.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
I'm doing well, and honestly, I hope we get to
do it again next year. Hopefully we get to do
more often. You know, just tell those guys to stick
with football. We got this covered. Not that big a deal,
but always good chat with you. We need to do
it more often. Even either hear our show somewhere. We
need to make it happen.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
This is the problem. I used to do a show
every single day. I used to bring on a lot
more guests, I used to have a lot more conversations
throughout the industry. I don't do that show anymore, but
I'm very happy to be able to talk with you here. Nonetheless, Bubba,
and we're gonna be in person in a couple of months,
so that should be fun as well down in the desert.
But today, guys, fill up the chat with your questions.
This will be our final show of the year, and

(01:05):
I want to talk about some potential streamers the rest
of the way, some hot bats that are being picked up.
We're going to go through a couple of the headlines
from yesterday and a couple of injuries as well. But
let me know if you have any questions, we will
be happy to answer them. What I wanted to start
off with here, but but just talk about a couple
of hot guys over the last few days, see if
you think they're viable pickups here for the final week
of the season. Estak Parades is the first one that

(01:26):
comes to mind. We talked about him, I think a
little bit last week. He's hit one home run. Since
he's returned, he's been hitting third in the lineup for
the Astros. If you need a little bit of a
boost right now, is he somebody that you think is
worth picking up, especially because Houston right now is in Sacramento.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, if you want the Sacramento boost, for sure, I
would jump on that With Estoc I think he's still
just trying to get like, you know, kind of knocked
the rest off from the long layoff. He does get
to go to Anaheim this weekend and has a phenomenal
schedule against Hendrix, Caden, Dana and Aldegary potentially, and the
Astros are fighting for that postseason life like right now.
They're out the playoffs as we speak, which is crazy

(02:02):
to think about because the Tigers have the sixth that
they have the wild card, while the Guardians now have
the Al Central. So the Astros are going to be
playing everybody they can, I think, till the end, which
gives Esoch and a really good schedule, a nice streaming viability.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Man, when we were talking a couple of weeks ago,
it was the last show on twitch, and somebody said,
who do you think is going to come out of
the American League And I said, no, the Astros, and
I completely jinxed them. They've gone completely cold since then,
and it's been a really interesting couple weeks actually, Baba,
Like I thought every playoff spot was pretty secured as
of maybe September twelfth or thirteenth or something like that,

(02:38):
and then you had Cincinnati come back, you had Seattle
do their thing, Cleveland doing their thing. It's been a
lot more interesting than I really expect that to be
down the stretch here.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, to your point, like a month ago, like you said, basically,
it seemed like everything was done, We're bored. The stinks.
Like we saw people posting on X that like everyone
should get in, like all these different scenarios for the postseason.
And now do you point like heading into the final
week of the year that almost every al division least
had something cooking, and like last night we broke down

(03:07):
the postseason, I'm blowing the bloom. And there's legit about
three or four teams in the National and American leagues
that could you know, be in or out by the
end of the week. So it's really good to see
at least we have something fun to look forward to
this week.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah, I mean I've seen it in the American League
with my Blue Jays, who looked like they had the
East kind of wrapped up, and now they've started struggling.
The Yankees are picking back up, the Red Sox are
still in it. There's a lot of excitement and I
really didn't think a few weeks ago there was going
to be anything. Everybody was like ninety percent plus in
terms of their playoff odds. But things have really really
shifted in the final couple weeks, which is kind of
what you want to see. You want there to be

(03:41):
excitement heading into the last week or so of the season.
Another guy who has been kind of hot. Now it'll
depend on the depth of your league whether or not
he is around, but Spencer Steer has been cooking with
gas recently. They are at home for the next couple
of days. Now they do have to face Paul Skins today,
Brax and Ashcraft tomorrow, and then he goes on the
road and gets Jay of Miserowski and Freddie Peralta this weekend.

(04:02):
So tough matchups a little bit. But any interest in
adding Spencer Steeer, Bob, But we're starting him potentially. Let's
say it's a league where he is rostered, but you're
debating putting him in the lineup. Is he worth it
for you here in these last few days.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
I take my chances at home with tough like you said,
Schemes and Ashcraft. Now, the Milwaukee series is interesting because
they have the bye locked up, so how many innings
do they give Priester Miserowski Peralta to get ready for
the postseason. That's the big question. I think he runs
Steer out there for the next two days and then
maybe find a replacement for the weekend if possible.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah, I think that's fine. Yeah, I think that does
make sense. He has I've got him in a couple
of leagues, and I think it was this week or
last week where he was like a day to day
designation heading into the week and you threw him into
the lineup. If you benched him, you missed out on
a lot of good production. But it's been a bit
of an up and down year for Spencer Steer for sure.
We mentioned him last week. I wanted to bring him
up again. Austin Martin, you still think he is a

(04:56):
viable pickup if anybody is looking for a little bit
of helping batting average, maybe add a couple of steel
down the stretch.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yep. We'll be talking to Austin Martin later in the
show as well. So I like him quite a bit.
The Texas matchups don't rate out right with the Gram
and Malli, but their bullpen's been kind of sketch. But
the Bueller Nola Sworez over the weekend especially at Philadelphia.
Doesn't want to go full boar with those pitchers. Votes
very well for Austin Martin, hitting second, still getting on
base a ton, and still another bag I believe Tuesday night.

(05:21):
So he's racking up the counting stats for you. He
might not have a ton of power, but he's helping
everywhere else, so I like him quite a bit.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Still, what do you think about har Roberto Hernandez Over
the last couple of weeks, he has three home runs,
He's heading three thirty three. He's out of a steel
in there any interest in adding him here with a
couple games against Philly and then heading to the Mets.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
I'm cool with it because he gets three left he's
in the last five games, which should lock him into
the lineup. He still plays verus right. He's don't get
me wrong, but he tends to like maybe split those
right handed starts because for now, quote unquote, the Marlins
are healthy. Dan Myers did leave on Tuesday, so I'll
have to see how that plays out. But Hernandez a
lot of pop okay badian average depends on what your

(06:00):
team needs, but it could be a nice little finish
to the season for him with the especially the Mets matchups,
because the Mets will be going for it, but they
haven't struggling in a lot, especially that bullpen.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
The Mets pitching has completely gone away in the second
half of the year. I was talking about it on
Monday with Chris Towers. It was a lot of fun.
Chris Towers joined me if you guys have missed that one,
but just talking about how the Mets at different times
of the year have had different things cooking. They're pitching
early on with Holmes, with Peterson, with Tyler McGill, who
we have a not great update on. Later they were cooking,

(06:33):
and then the bats, like over I think it was
July and August were like the hottest hitting team in baseball,
but at the same time nothing was ever working all together.
It'll be really really dark stuff if they missed the
playoffs after what happened last year. Adding Soto, but that
one is probably the most interesting race for me. Cincinnati
and New York and Arizona there in the NL wild

(06:53):
Card has been a lot of fun to follow. One
last name here to bring up. It's Bo Naylor, somebody
who has fall short of expectations. It seems like forever
I've always loved the guy, being a Canadian homer myself.
But bow Naylor over the last two weeks, he's hitting
three seventy five, three home runs, fourteen ribis in the
last two weeks, and the Guardians are really cooking with gas.

(07:16):
He's playing more than he had been. I'm kind of
interested in bow Naylor. I guess the question is who
your current catcher is, But you think he's a viable
pick up here for the final few days.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Most definitely, the Guardians are going for it, so they're
starting their guys at as they should be, so he
should play three or four of their last five games.
Pretty darn good matchups against Detroit and Texas. I absolutely
love this Naylor call. I talked about him on a
couple of recent FAB shows. It's like, where's this guy
been when I was pumping him up every preseason for
the last two years. This is what we're seeing in September.

(07:45):
Is I think the skill set and then I sit
back and I go, wait a minute. He is only
twenty five years old, so like there still might be
a level where he becomes like a catcher two next
year or something. So your original point, yes, go ahead
and add him. There are a lot of catching options
this week you could add, but definitely a strong one
this week.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
I really like him, and I know I'm biased. I've
always liked his brother, but like there are certain things
that are kind of encouraging in the data. Still fourteen
home runs, he gets on base at a decent clip,
considering he hits under two hundred with his eleven percent
walk rate. Just hasn't really been able to put it
all together offensively, pretty solid on the defensive side of
the ball. But I'm really hoping next year is the

(08:25):
year where Bo Naylor can start to resemble his brother
a little bit more. Guys, I want to remind you
we are still giving away the Billy Wagners signed baseball
that is courtesy of our friends over at Pristine Auction
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subscribe to the Fantasy Pros MLB YouTube channel right now,
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We'll be announcing one lucky winner right here on the channel,
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(08:46):
know when new videos are up. And to claim your prize,
Let's take a couple of questions. Fenway cheap seats saying
no question, but just want to say thank you for
all your advice and responses all year. I've got a
sixteen point lead in my six by six home road
a leagues, I appreciate y'all. Sixteen points feels pretty good
right now. You know it's not over till the fat
Lady starts singing, but that feels pretty good for you. Fenway,

(09:07):
So congrats over there, David sitting in my championship. Thanks guys,
love the podcast, and Jpack as well in my championship.
Can't say thank you enough to Joe and Bubba and
also Joey p and Welsh whatever with those guys. I
appreciate it. I really do appreciate it. We're just messing around.
Joe and Welsher are our guys here, so we're just
having a little bit of fun. What about this grim guy?

(09:29):
Do we believe in him? I think you're probably talking
about Krim for the Rockies, Blaine Krim. I believe we
may mentioned him last weekend and we said that he
was maybe a decent pickup for the weekend slate. He
did hit a home run, drove in a couple runs.
The problem here is that there are a lot of
holes in his game, a ton of swing and miss.
They're in Seattle right now, and then they head to
San Francisco. It's not really the two ballparks you want

(09:51):
to be headed into, especially because you see Colorado. He's
a Rockies bat, but he's not going to benefit from
any core's goodness the rest of the way. So I
think I don't want to speak for you, Bubba, but
Krim is probably somebody we can leave alone for the
rest of the year.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, one might say it is grim the outlook for
the rest of his season, so yes, uh yeah, I
would move on from that, like maybe he runs into
a homer, but there's a lot of potential downfall with
what he's got coming up.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Yeah, j Pack, you're good. You're good. Sometimes we don't
even know our own names around these parts, so you
are totally good for not recognizing Blaine Krim not exactly
a household name, So you are you are definitely forgiven there,
my friend. I do want to talk about it and
keep keep throwing your questions in there. Guys, We'll keep
coming back to them throughout the show. Here, I want
to talk about a couple of potential pitching streamers. Now
this time of year, everything is chaos, everything is nuts.

(10:36):
You know, you never really know who's starting on a
given day. But I just put a couple of guys
in the show sheet here that I think are pretty
viable ads slash streams for the next couple of days,
today Wednesday. You know this is more for the live crowd.
If you're listening back, I apologize, but we'll start with Wednesday.
Stephen Colech against the Angels, Ryan Weathers against Philly, Jonah
Toong against the Cubs, and Taj Bradley against the Rangers.

(10:58):
For me, Coleck and Tong are probably my favorites here.
Coolak has been cooking and Jonah Tong had that one
really rough start but did bounce back pretty well. What
are your thoughts on this group of streamers are potential
streamers we have for today? Bubba?

Speaker 2 (11:11):
I agree Kolak. It's really impressive what he has put
together since rejoining the Royals rotation. He's made four starts,
all quality starts to and runs are less than all
of them. Not a big strikeout guy, but did punch
out eight mariners over seven or a third in his
last start, and he gets to take on a wonderful,
wonderful Halo's team that strikes out thirty two zero point

(11:33):
two percent of the time vers Riety's over the past
month thirty two point two percent of the time, a
third of they're at bats vers right handed pitchers. That
is horrific.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
So I love Kolik and this one, so'll prepare for
the downfall. I apologize now and then the rest of them.
It's tough, Like I really want to go with Ryan Weathers.
The Phillies have been missing some players like leave it
like Harper's battle and injuries. Don't know how deep Weathers
is going to go when that game, So I'm gonna
go with Weathers. I don't disagree with your tom to take,
but Colek is the clear one in this group.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yeah, Colek has been phenomenal, and you're riding the hot
hand there for me with Tong. And you know, there's
been a couple of pitchers like this who have had
kind of one real stinker that blows up their line
Kaye Cavali, Bubba Chandler Tong as well. I think I'm
forgetting one other young guy. And you look at the
overall stats and you're like Okay Jonah Tong for the year,
it's a five ninety four and a one forty four whip,

(12:28):
but all of that damage really just came in that
one horrific start, so you know at that age you
are going to have some ups and downs. The fact
that he's facing the Cubs does give me a little
bit of encouragement. It definitely wouldn't have earlier in the year,
but the Cubs are kind of whatever at this point
that they're not really a team that scares me off.
So I think there are a couple of viable options
for today looking ahead to tomorrow, Michael Lorenzen again targeting

(12:51):
those Angels because they're not good, as Bubba alluded to,
Taiwan Walker against Miami, Braxton Ashcraft against Cincinnati, and Tyler
Maley coming off a pretty decent return, he gets Minnesota.
Anybody in this group interesting you for streaming purposes, Bubba.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Love the Lorenzen call, like you said, for the same
things we just talked about. And Mallie's very interesting four
and two thirds nowhere in six k's against the Marlins
in his return from the IL now gets a pretty
friendly matchup versus Minnesota. So I'm looking at Lorenzen and
Malli right now. The thing with Miami, it's very interesting.
They're not striking out a lot, so Walker's gonna to
deal with a lot of balls and play in that

(13:26):
ball park. So I'm going with Lorenzen and Mally in
that crew.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, Tylan Walker is you know this time of year.
If you stream him in you know, May or June,
and there's a decent matchup. Okay, if it hurts you,
it hurts you. If you stream him right now and
he kills you and you lose your title and lose
a bunch of money because of Taiwan Walker, You're gonna
hate yourself. I'm telling you right now, You're gonna hate
yourself if that is the case. So yeah, play it,
play a little bit safe. But there's a couple options

(13:52):
for you. I think Lorenz's probably my favorite. Ashcraft came
in as a follower to Baba Chandler, but he's getting
the actual start here. So let's just hope for five
innings against the fairly poor Cincinnati team and Bali as well.
I think there are actually some pretty decent options. Tomorrow
Friday is where it could potentially get a little bit thin. Now,
we got Kastanza, Jason Alexander again targeting the Angels. He's
coming off of a true stinker on Sunday Brandon Sproute

(14:16):
against Miami. He's also coming off of not a great one.
And then Kate Cavali, who I mentioned earlier, has been
really good outside of just one kind of poor start.
What are your thoughts on this group, Bubba.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
It's a really good group. Like I know, I'm insane
for trying to go back to Alexander, but I'm gonna
keep picking on the matchups at this point of the year,
so that seems pretty nice to me. And then I
don't mind the sprot call or the Kavali call. I
think they're both. The Cavali great matchup versus Weisex sprote
versus Miami Sprots looks pretty good. If I had to
pick just one, I'm probably going Cavali in this group,

(14:46):
but I like all three.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
If you need it, I do too. I think Kavali
is probably my favorite, But I'm with you with Costanza.
I wrote him up in an article on Sunday, even
after getting blown up. You wrote him up as a streamer,
even in that he had been really good. I don't
want to hold one bad start against a really hot
team against him. I think that he is still pretty viable.
Let's look ahead to the weekend and this is where

(15:09):
it gets dicey.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Guys.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
Just remember before you put anybody in your lineup. We're
talking specifically for daily league players here. Weekly lineups are
said for the year. Just be one hundred percent sure.
Things are moving around constantly. I thought Jacob Bigrahm was
a two star pitcher this week, and then it was
reported starting Thursday, and then it's reported he's going Wednesday.
So you just never really know, so just be one
hundred percent sure. But with that being said, Saturday, Kyle
Harrison against the Tigers, Javier Assad against Saint Louis, Joey

(15:32):
Cantillo against Texas. Buy but what are your thoughts on
this group?

Speaker 2 (15:35):
I love Canti you. I've always been a Cantello guy.
He looks real sharp of late. You'd imagine the Guardians
have to go for it. Texas is thrown in the
towel like Langford's out. They already said, see your and
Simon aren't coming back. That team's a shell of itself.
I love cantill you in this matchup, Harrison maybe, but
never assad It is a facade, as my co host
would say, So give me Joey Cantillo. I love that

(15:57):
one against Texas on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
Yeah, I think you know. I put him on the
sheet just because of the matchup for a side, and
I wanted to discuss it. But the numbers are pretty rough.
I mean, if you look back at the past couple
of seasons, he's been very serviceable, but the strikeouts are
just gone, yep. And they weren't in a place where
you could really afford to lose seven points. He was
a twenty percent, eighteen percent, nineteen percent down to twelve percent.

(16:20):
So as much as I think that there is a
chance things go well, this is probably more of a
desperation play. You just need the volume on the weekend
and you got no other options. I think that's that's
probably where he sits. Sunday. Here's a couple of final
options for the weekend. Jamison Tayonne against Saint Louis, Shane
Smith against the Nationals, and Justin Verlander coming off a
pretty rough one himself, but he gets Colorado. Bobba, what

(16:42):
do you think.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
If Verlander makes the start? I want that one big time.
It was a bad start on Monday. He's been so
good of late, and the road Rockies are almost as
bad as the Angels right now, So I'm going Verlander
in that one. All three aren't bad, to be honest,
but give me Justin Verlander.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, I think I'll go Verlander as well. You know,
this has been an interesting few weeks to say the least,
and once again, my apologies to the guy I told
not to pick him up a while back, although I
guess maybe it saved you this week. But overall, Justin
Verlander has been a lot better, a lot better. And
what do you think? I asked Towers about this and
he thought he's not too interested for next year. But
with Verlander is saying that he's going to stick around

(17:20):
the fact that he's ended pretty well here, will you
have any interest in drafts for next season, like a
late round or potentially like your last pick kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
If he's free like he was this year, preferably in
a fifteen the twelve team. He's strictly a streamed for me,
because he's gonna have a lot if you don't want
him out there moments, but fifteen's he's gonna have a
lot of legs. And I actually had him. I drafted
him a few fifteens to start the year. I dropped
him when things are horrific, but I could see where
this has a path to success for a fifteen team week.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yes, even at his age, it's kind of crazy. I
think he's going to be forty three or he's already
forty three. It's wild to see what he's been able
to do here. Him and Kershaw just having these really
nice runs at this stage of their career has been
kind of nice to see. But guys, I want to
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Speaker 1 (19:06):
All Right, what else we got going on in the
chat here? Joe g Friend of the show coming in
Lorenzen over Powich tomorrow. Yes, yes, absolutely, I've just never
been impressed really by Kate Povich to this point, and
there's been a couple of decent starts, but overall he's
been very disappointing.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
Bubba, I'm a Povich fan. Is just annoying because he
gets you tons of strikeouts, but he will blow your
ratios up like half the time. So there's really no
consistency in that regard. I could I see the path
where he could be good someday. He just never finds it.
So that's where the frustration is. But you know, in
a head to head league, you proably don't want to
use them if you're in like a roto and you're like, hey,
I need strikeouts right now. I don't care about my ratios.

(19:42):
I like Povich, but in this question, give me a
Lorenzen all day.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, I think I'm with you there. Playoff predictions, well,
my last playoff prediction did not go terribly well. I
cursed the Houston Astros. At this point, everything is completely
up in the air for the wildcard spots those ones.
I have no real predictions about the wildcard. Anything could
happen over the next few days. I think Seattle and

(20:08):
Milwaukee at this point is who I would probably pick
to meet up in the World Series. They're both really
really deep, strong teams. Seattle's World Series chances on Fangrafts
are over twenty percent. They're by far the highest team.
I think I'm going that way and i think I'm
going to Brewers in the n ALBABA.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah, Seattle and Milwaukee's been my pick for a couple
of weeks. Now I'm gonna stick with that. The only if.
If it's not Milwaukee, I think it's Philadelphia because they're
starting notations filthy like that they could do some damage.
Milwaukee's taking a hit in that rotation, looking losing Woodriff,
which concerns me, But I'm gonna stick with it. Jayson
Milwaukee for now. More importantly, I would just frustrate all
the TV people, So I'm pretty happy about that.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, they do not want those small market teams. I
know they don't want Toronto anywhere near that they have.
I mean, Toronto has good markets, but they never give
Toronto any Sunday Night Baseball or any primetime stuff. I
think that the league might panic a little bit if
they had to go north of the border for World's coverage.
They haven't had to do that in quite a while.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
It's been a while.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
It's been a while. I've never actually seen it myself.
Tyler Wells today, that is, I believe, Tampa Bay. I
think I'm going for it.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, keep playing Tyler Wells. He's been awesome. There's no
reason not too.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Yeah, I'm there with you. Thanks has always, fella, has
been a great season. Appreciate you, go Sport seeing you
in the chat a bunch. At what point in the
draft you take Chase Burns next year? So in a
very early draft that took place six weeks ago at
this point, Bubba, something like that, Chase Burns went in
the eighth round. Now, it hasn't been the greatest few
weeks for Chase Burns overall, going to the bullpen and whatnot,

(21:38):
and his season line as a whole. He's got a
five ERA, he's got a one forty whip, but the
upside there with the strikeouts, with the I think pretty
solid command already. He could be an ACE as soon
as next season. Where you're having to draft him is
probably I would say a borderline top one hundred pick,
somewhere in the ninety to one ten range in most rooms, Bubba,
that's not about right.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, that's fair. That's fair, eighth round and of fifteen.
So people love the upside to your play. He's kind
of like to do Hunter Green for them, Like where
do you speculate, you know around the Hunter pick Mark
giver take seems seems accurate for now.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
Yeah, I think things will We'll move around, and he's
definitely we talked about helium guys in spring training. Chase
Burns is a prime example of a dude who he
throws a few hundred and one mile an hour pitches
in March and then he strikes out nine dudes in
a spring training game. That's the type of price that
will just skyrocket. So I think he's the type of
guy you get in early drafts if you really want
to get some shares of Chase Burns. What do you

(22:32):
think about Kim and Atlanta been doing well? Will he
keep it up? I think he'll keep it up probably
the rest of the way this season. I don't know
out next year yet. I think I'll probably be interested
depending on the price. But Kim, We've talked about him
a bunch on this show. Bubba's talked about him a ton.
He's definitely worth picking up if you're still seeing him
out there.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yeah, we talked about him actually last night, but went
to bloom for something that because he's widely available in
fab recently and he's got a ten game hitting streak
going right now, couple home runs. He's not running much
this year, but maybe that's injury. Base Dude's always got
a good hit, tool, of decent power, tons of speed.
When he's running, he's going to be in the middle
of that Brazer order. I love him for the rest
of this season. And the question we had lot yesterday

(23:12):
or maybe he was on bench with Bubble with Ben,
was where does he go in that like pocket of
short stops he feels because he projects like with him
Andez and stop, But to me, he's better than them.
So it's a very interesting that's a whole another twenty
twenty six discussion. But to their question, sorry, off the rails,
It's what I'm good at. Yes, keep playing him the
rest of the season.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
I can promise you he's better than him. Andez Jimenez
is an atrocious hitter. He's a great defender, no question great,
one of the best defensive second basement, maybe the best
defensive second basement. He could not hit a whiffle ball
with a canoe paddle. The guy is awful at the plate.
I think we're okay for chat right now, so let's

(23:51):
keep it going here on the outline and talk about
a quick quick mention and some bagpipes in the chat
For Alec Manoa. I was very surprised by this move.
The Blue Jays release essentially released Alec Manoa yesterday. They
designated him for assignment. Somebody will probably take a shot
on him. I would imagine at this point he already
has a cy Young finish in his career. He finished

(24:11):
third and cy Young voting in twenty twenty two, dealt
with a ton of injuries, went under the knife. He
hasn't had the command since he's come back. This I
tweeted it yesterday, but it feels fairly shortsighted for them
to have done this, giving up on Alec Manoa at
age twenty seven. But any initial thoughts that you had
seen this, was it a surprising move to you? Or
am I perhaps being a little biased here? No?

Speaker 2 (24:30):
I was surprised because he's still so young, he's had
the injuries. I thought his rehab was going okay, Like
we're seeing some good outings and whatnot, like maybe he's
never that ace again, But Hey, from a Giants guy
over here that has a horrible rotation, I'd take a
shot out hunt to be like our fourth in a
rotation all day long in that ballpark. So I think

(24:51):
it's too early to give up on the guy unless
there's more injury information under the hood that we're not
being told about.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
There was something about Hey refused an assignment a couple
of years ago triple A that ruffled some feathers and
people weren't too happy about it. But the thing that
shocks me in this situation that the Blue Jays are
not set up very well from a pitching standpoint going forward.
Chris Bassett thirty seven years old or about to be
thirty seven years old on the il about in Francis
was not what we were hoping. He was gonna be Barrios,

(25:18):
Ditto Kevin Gosman. He's gonna be thirty five, Max Scherzer's
forty one. Bieber could leave in free agent, Like this
is not a team that has a deep rotation, especially
looking at it to next year. I'm very surprised by this,
Fenway saying Alec Manoa twenty twenty six Marlins redemption arc.
He'll go somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if Antoppolis takes
a chance on him, if the Dodgers take a chance
on him, if really any team took a chance on

(25:40):
him and he ended up having a halfway decent career.
Is he ever gonna win a cy Young I very
much doubt that, but he's shown that upside in his
first year in the big So it feels like the
Blue Jays give up a little bit early here on
mister Alec Manoa Joe asking about Walker Buehler tomorrow over
Lorenz and I can't do it. I personally can't do it.
I don't trust him. But what do you think.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
I never Bueler. I'll take the Lorenzen matchup all day
long and twice on Sunday. I know I actually respect them.
Harlan's right now, that's the crazy thing. So I'm not
going with the locky Buehler thing. Not right now.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
Well, I mean post surgery, post sticky stuff. I don't
know that he's ever going to get back to what
we saw before. Certainly I don't think we'll ever see
him at those previous levels. Maybe he can have again,
same thing with maybe Minoa. He can have a halfway
decent career, maybe, but he's never hitting those previous peaks.
Let's do a little three up and three down Michael Harris.
The second two home runs yesterday, following up a game

(26:36):
where he had three steals on Monday. This is maybe
the most up and down player I can think of.
There are times when he looks like prime Barry Bonds.
There are primes where he can't hit the Mendo's aligned.
But but I don't really know what to make of him.
I think in drafts I'll probably just be out because
people will sell themselves on the hype in the upside
when in reality the performance hasn't been there in a
couple of years. But it's hard not to be interested

(26:58):
with what you see him doing down the stretch here.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
Yeah, he keeps bringing fantasy managers back into the mix.
I just stay away, but I can at least admit
that the skills are really good, and he shows him
from time to time. The price has to be right.
He's been going too high in drafts in recent years.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Now.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
If he falls to the round of one hundred, one
hundred and fifty, range. Now we can talk, but I
don't know the skills are there. It's just very, very frustrating.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
To your point, one homer and one steal off of
a twenty twenty season. If somebody looked back in seven
years and said, oh, Michael Harris twenty twenty five, yeah,
he had a twenty twenty season, you would never know
how frustrating this guy was to roster. I'm thankfully a
lot of my shares were Gladiator teams, so I didn't
really have to worry about it, and I've seen those
teams kind of tick up in the standings in the
second half. But my goodness, my goodness, it has been

(27:42):
a rough year for him. I'm glad he's picked it
up now, but I just don't really want anything to
do with him next year, unless to your point, if
he's outside of the top of one hundred hundred and fifty. Sure,
I just don't see a lot of people letting him
fall that far. Just with the upside and whatever. A
couple of pitchers here on the ups as well. Gavin Williams,
continuing his crazy run to earn runs, truck out twelve
Tigers yesterday and in the second half he has been

(28:04):
a monster. Tower said he didn't trust it on Monday.
I don't really trust it. What do you think, Bubba.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
I've always been a Gavin Williams fan. It's been as
inconsistency with his command. He'll have those nasty walk games,
but that has improved in the second half to your point,
and it just keeps going back to like these young pitchers.
There's guys making changes this, that and the other, and
I don't know if you can trust like people can't
trust it. But it's been about a couple months at
least where we're seeing this good pitching. He's got to
roll with it, and I'll probably be in again next year.

(28:33):
I was very interested coming into this year because I
think there is a very solid skill set there just
hasn't fully tapped into it. But we might be seeing
part of it right now.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
We might be. I hope we are. I just hope
that price doesn't skyrocket. I'm intrigued. I don't want to
pay a price that would be, you know, looking like
it would be if he had put on the second
half numbers the whole season. I hope that people temper
their expectations a little bit, just for my own team's
sake next year and the last one Cole Reagan's five
innings tour and runs and struck out ten. Cole Reagans,

(29:02):
I know the numbers on the.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
Sturdy Who face Joe? Who did he face? Ah?

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Bobo whate whine. You gotta do this to me, Bubba,
what You're not wrong? In a full circle, You're not wrong.
You're definitely not wrong. But I would counter that with
his strikeout rate for the year is thirty seven percent,
and you know it's coming fifty seven innings. But I
feel like Reagan's if he enters the year with a
clean bill of health, I am gonna be really interested

(29:28):
in him, and I feel like I'll take those early drafts.
You know, if there is any discount on him, the
surface numbers may keep people away, but we're looking at
a thirty percent strike up minus walk rate, a two
sixty nine FIP. Like the stuff is still good, the
fastball velo is still good. He he looks like Cole
Reagan's who has just had a little bit of an
unfortunate year with injuries. Bubbo and in a very high

(29:49):
babbitt I'm buying all the way back in in twenty
twenty six.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
Do you agree, Oh, yeah, no, I'm in that. Like
to me, it's I guess, risk rewards. Some people don't
have the risk reward when it comes to their pitching,
and I get it. But if you can stomach like
a Tyler Glass now or a Blake Snell, you should
be able to stomach a Cole Reagan's because, yeah, there
might be some risk there, but even if he gives
you one hundred to one hundred and twenty innings, this

(30:12):
gonna be some elite production and we've seen him go
much deeper than that before. The fact he's making starts
to finish the season gives me confidence in his health.
And I'm with you on this one.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
Yeah, Justin and Paul and I were talking about it,
and I think it was Justin who said, like that
one hundred and eighty six inning season is starting to
look like the outlier a little bit. And we'll see
if he has another injury filled year next year, That's
when I would probably be a little bit worried. But
right now I'm still very much interested in Cole Reagan's
On the downs, David Peterson, he's completely fallen apart in
the second half, given it all back just an inning

(30:43):
and a third, allot five earned runs on five hits
and two walks. Hey Haineo Suarez with a golden sombrero
and Kevin Gosman four and runs on nine hits over
five and two thirds yesterday. Not a great day for him.
They also got completely hosed by The's not Gosman in particular,
just the Blue Jays getting absolutely hosed. That maybe got
into his heat a little bit. Who knows. I don't

(31:03):
want to derail the show. I could talk at nauseum.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
About sounds like, sounds like you have interest in this one.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Joe, Oh my god, yesterday? Did you see what happened?
Do you see the Springer plays yesterday?

Speaker 2 (31:13):
Uh? Yeah, I was. I think I was recording one
of my shows and that a bat was on in spring.
First the foul ball that wasn't a foul ball thing,
and then the strike three where he I'm surprised he
didn't get tossed. He did enough and kept it together.
I was shocked. I thought he was gonna he had
all the right oh to turn her out and basically
tell him where stuff should fly, basically, Yeah, but he

(31:35):
did not.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
John Schneider got out there quickly. It was early in
the game, you're still fighting for positioning. That was about
as heated as I've seen George in the yes four
or so years he's been in Toronto. He's usually pretty composed.
He's usually a pretty happy, go lucky guy. Not yesterday
he was. He was pretty pissed, and I don't blame him.
Almost like about a couple of injuries. Speaking of pissed,
Wyatt Langford or another side issue had to leave early yesterday.

(31:59):
I think this I've lost track of the oblique slash
side issues this year. I want to say it's five
times this has popped up, going back to the preseason.
I don't know how much I want to take him
next year. I love the skill set, I love the talent,
but these side issues are really starting to worry me.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, I'm still interested. It is very concerning, and it
feels like the last couple they rushed him back. That's
what I'm more like, what are we doing here? I
feel like he was He's never really been healthy, even
this one right here. He sat out the weekend and
he comes back for an inning. It's like, Okay, he
probably wasn't ready. Guys, Like, what are we doing here.
So there there's a few situations like that, but yeah,
he's had too many of them. You're not wrong in

(32:37):
that regard, so I can see the trepidation come draft day.
I'm still interested because the skill set's so dark good
like he still went twenty twenty on a banged up
season with a.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
Fourteen percent barrel, forty eight hardhead, thirteen percent walk. Great
he is. He is going to be a great player
as long as he can avoid the injury bug. One
hundred and thirty four games. I mean, it's not like
it's cost him a ton of the season, but when
he's been on the field, there have been time or
he's really looking like he's playing hampered, and I think
that is what has cost him a little bit. Here
Kate Horden left early after his back tightened up yesterday.

(33:07):
It looked like he was going to be in line
for the win. Had to leave after three. Not good
if you started him for his final start of the year.
And we've talked about already how he's probably seventy you're
going to want to avoid next year. That price is
probably going to be a little too high based on
the surface numbers. Here's an interesting one. I didn't expect
Roki Sazaki will be activated and pitched out of the
bullpen for the Dodgers. There's no fantasy move here obviously,

(33:27):
pitching out of the pen, but just an interesting reinforcement
for them to have into the playoffs. Anthony santon Dare
was activated by the Blue Jays. That was the reason
why Alec Manoah was sent away. Ty Franz also went
on the al yesterday, but Anthony santan Dare backed buy.
But if you're in a daily league, you know, let's
say you need an outfielder potentially need a little bit
of pop, would you be picking him up and starting

(33:48):
him right now?

Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yeah, if you're interested in pop, they should play him
every day to get at bats for the postseason. Yeah,
to get ready. So yeah, I'm on board with that.
The Jays have a pretty friendly matchups this weekend with Howser,
Boil and Seymour, and Seymour is actually going to be
moving to the bullpen, so who knows who's pitching Sunday
for Tampa Bay.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
I didn't see that, really, why are they doing that?
He's been so good?

Speaker 2 (34:10):
I don't know. I was doing my news and notes
last night for the patreoon and like, let me find
the actual tweet real quick for you. But that's yeah.
They announced yesterday Ian Seymour will pitch out of the
bullpenned and it's available tonight. That was yesterday. Kevin Cash
ed he likely, he's like, okay, so he might make
one more start. He said, he's likely to make one
more start, so he could pitch Sunday. But he's supposed

(34:32):
to two step this week and now they're pushing him back,
so who knows even he makes that start.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah, the Rays are so weird, such a weird team. Well,
they are going to be who they are going to be.
Brian Wu had his start skipped but apparently won't go
on the IL. I have no confidence that he's going
to start another game this regular season. Maybe in the postseason,
but in the regular season, I don't think so.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah. No, they said they're going to throw a bullpen
on Thursday instead of a start, which means, hey, let's
get him healthy for the second round of the playoffs
since we have a buye.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yeah, that's what I think as well. And then Tyler
McGill unfortunately underwent Tommy John surgery. I've always liked Tyler McGill.
The first podcast I ever did was with Ryan Bloomfield,
and I remember we talked about Tyler McGill, well, the
first name we talked about on the sheet. It's one
of those weird things that stands out. Just a nice
memory for me with Ryan and Tyler McGill. But Tyler
McGill unfortunately not gonna be around the rest of this year,

(35:21):
and you won't see him on the mound next year
at this point either. And that will take us to
our final best bets of the day segment of the year.
I don't think there's gonna be any bets on Friday.
I could be wrong, but Bubba, for your last three
bets on leading off of the year, what do you got,
my friend?

Speaker 2 (35:37):
I was baffled to see the number plus one ninety
for Pete Alonzo over three hits, runs and RBIs as
he's just been mashing everything. Now the wind can be
blowing in and Wrigley. I see how there could be
issues with this scenario, But you got Matthew Boyd on
the bump, who's broken, he's exhausted, he's done. It's give
me Pete Alonso. In this one, I mentioned we'll be

(35:58):
going back to the Austin Martinwell over two hits runs
in RBIs at plus one twenty five them in because
he's getting on base a ton, he's scoring runs, stealing bags.
I know it's de Grom, but de Grom's not look
the same of late plus. You get a banged up
Rangers bullpen in that matchup, and then we're going with
a pitching prop. We're going with Blake Snell over six
and a half strikeouts A plus one twenty takes on

(36:18):
the Diamondbacks team striking out about twenty two percent of
the time Verus lefties over the past month. Snell's coming
off back to back double digit strikeout performances. If Snell
doesn't walk guys, I don't see why he doesn't get
seven plus k's in this matchup. So give me a
plus money at plus one twenty. I didn't put Colec
on the list, but you might as well throw that
just for fun, because you know the Angels stink.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
The Angels do very much stink on that Blake Snell number.
I like it the Dodgers rotation right now, especially with
show hey cooking Lois he is. This is maybe we
should have picked them in the nationally they're looking very good.
I agree on that, Blake Snell one in particular, and
I also agree with with Austin Martin. There, I'll start
with mine. I'll start with de Gram here. It's at
the bottom of the page. But you know, I have
been the biggest de Gram fan, and I'm taking the

(37:00):
over here because I just don't think that he has
looked fully right recently. Over one and a half earned
runs minus one oh nine, he could still have a
very good game. You give up two earned runs, and
that's probably what's going to happen here. But I feel
like that number is probably a little bit too good
to be passing up Miami and Philadelphia over eight and
a half earned runs. Ryan Weathers and Hazus Wizardo. Weathers,
who had been on a long layoff, comes back and

(37:22):
looks good. I don't have a ton of worry there.
But Philadelphia, you know, they can scare you. They can
definitely scare you as a team. And then Hazes Lozzardo
on the other side of that, the biggest wild card,
probably of all the pitchers this year, facing a team
in Miami. Bubba mentioned earlier, all second they're not a
joke of an offense. So I think that this game
going over eight and a half feels pretty likely. And

(37:42):
I've taken that one at minus one oh two. Essentially
you're getting it even there. And then Pittsburgh Cincinnati, I'm
taking the pitching duel here Paul Skens and Hunter Green
under seven runs at minus one fourteen. Those are our
final best bets of the day, and that'll bring us
to the home run board. Let's see what is going
on with the Homers. Whips is pulling away here at

(38:04):
sixty four. It's gonna take a lot from Positive Grouch
or b Is at sixty two and second and third
to come back. George with sixty, Fisher King with fifty nine.
It's gonna take another Nick Kurtz for home run game
to put you back in the mix. Here. It looks
like it's gonna be Whips, but Positive Grouch and Bees
need a big one over the weekend to come back
into it. I've had two consecutive home run calls go

(38:26):
my way. You've been watching the show all year, you
know that it's like there must be a red moon
outside or something like that. Augustine Ramirez and Ronald Acunya
Junior have been helping me out. So today I'm taking
Jaron Duran against Max schers Or who looks like he
should be retiring very very soon. He looks broken. I
am taking Jaron Duran in Toronto tonight against Max Scher's
or Bubba. Where are you going today for your home

(38:46):
run call? My friend?

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Yeah, I'm trying to back up the mett Olsen call
last Friday with a chalkier than chalk flate. I haven't
done this all season, so we're going Aaron Judge. Yeah,
they're facing the Chicago White Sox. They're facing Ellard and
a bullpen game. A White Socks bullpen. Let me echo that.
So it should be some very nice matchups for Aaron Judge.
I was gonna pick any Yankee, but I'm like, ah,
let's go Judge for the final day of the season

(39:09):
and see where it goes.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
You might as well, and maybe we should put some
kind of limitation on it next year. Not for you
or not for me, but like anybody who wants to
pick a guy like show Hey or Judge, like we
should cap at a like five times for the year
or something like that, you know, because like the way
the rules work. You go Judge Show, Hey Alonso, Judge Show,
Hey Shure Bur and you just rotate there. I don't know, Well,

(39:31):
I'll talk with Kelly. I think Kelly is the one
who is the keeper of the keys on the discord
side there, and we'll talk about it for next year.
But that'll do it. That'll do it, guys, Bubba. I
love doing shows with you, man, It's always a blast,
and I really appreciate that you've been able to do
a bunch of them with me this year. Let the
people know where you can be found and where they
can keep up with you throughout the off season.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yeah, an ex bead Intrick, you'll see everything tweeted out there.
It's a bench with Bubba and Bubba and the Bloom.
We don't stop during the off season, at least one
or two but Benchell Bows and two Bubbing the Blooms
every week podcast and on YouTube and then the Patreon
bubb in the Bloom. We've got some good stuff and
coming up for you in the off season to enhance
what we got going on over there. So we're always

(40:13):
expanding what we do. You guys have got to experience
Bloomfield for a couple of mondays there. He's my cost
good buddy of mine's show. Come support the boys over
there once you're done in support and Fantasy pros supporting
Joe and company, and trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
I can vouch for them one hundred percent. Ryan and
Bubba do fantastic work. They're great people. There are two
people who really helped me come along in this industry,
so you can blame them for having a listen to
me on this show all the time. We're gonna be
back on Friday. It's gonna be piece of p on
Welsh and I'm gonna hop on as well, just for
a little goodbye. But that'll do it for leading off
for the year. Guys. Really, we're really at the end

(40:49):
of the season. We're gonna have an episode of the
cycle come out in a few weeks, so there will
be a Baseball podcast and Your Feet in early October,
and we are going to be back doing stuff throughout
the off season. But make sure you're following Bubba. If
you're listening on the podcast feed, just click on his name.
It'll take you right to Twitter. You can click on
his name and follow him. That way, you can do
it for myself as well at Joel Rico ninety nine.
But guys, that's it for Casey Bubba. I'm Joel Rico.

(41:10):
We'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros.
Thank care, everybody.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
us

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,
follow us on x, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros,
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